1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to magnetic resonance imaging apparatuses and methods for obtaining magnetic resonance images thereof, and more particularly, to methods and apparatuses for obtaining multi-contrast magnetic resonance images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to capture and display an image by using information that is obtained through resonance after atomic nuclei are exposed to a magnetic field. The resonance of atomic nuclei refers to a phenomenon by which, when a particular radio frequency is incident on the atomic nuclei which are magnetized by an external magnetic field, the atomic nuclei in a low energy state are excited to a high energy state by absorbing radio frequency energy. The atomic nuclei have different resonance frequencies from each other according to types of the atomic nuclei, and the resonance is influenced by the magnitude of the external magnetic field. There are numerous atomic nuclei in the human body, and in general, hydrogen atomic nuclei are used in MRI.
In regard to obtaining a magnetic resonance image, there has been an increasing demand for technologies that relate to processing magnetic resonance images rapidly.
In order to efficiently obtain three-dimensional (3D) volume information that relates to an object, a method in which several pieces of two-dimensional (2D) slice images are obtained in a direction of slices that constitute the 3D volume is used. In this case, it is typical to capture as many 2D slice images as the number of the slices.
A multi-slice imaging technique is being developed to reduce a time necessary for restoring a magnetic resonance image. The multi-slice imaging technique is a technique for obtaining magnetic resonance (MR) signals that respectively correspond to a plurality of slices with respect to an object within one repetition time (TR) and separating and rearranging the signals into images that respectively correspond to positions of the signals.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for rapidly obtaining, during one TR, magnetic resonance images of a type that is useful in the multi-slice imaging technique.